Insecurity in southern african cities


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The key findings to emerge from this gender analysis of the AFSUN data 

are the following: 

-

holds are food insecure, compared to three out of four nuclear house-



holds. 

-

cators, including dietary diversity and months of adequate household 



food provisioning.

poverty of these households, which are characterized by lower income 

and more precarious employment and livelihoods.

security despite lower income.

important for female-centred households in countries and cities where 

they are available.

female-centred households than for other household types.

By comparing female-centred and nuclear households, light is shed both 

on the determinants of urban food insecurity – which relate fundamen-

tally to income, employment and education – and on the manifest gender 

inequalities  in  access  to  the  largely  income-based  entitlements  to  food 

in the city. What it also shows, however, is the entrenched and systemic 

nature of gender discrimination and inequality, and thus the lack of any 

quick fixes, such as the much-touted “education for girls” strategy, as a 

panacea for poverty and hunger.

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 Education alone, in the absence of more 



fundamental social change, is evidently not sufficient to lift female-centred 

households out of poverty and hunger, as long as labour market discrimi-

nation, unequal access to capital and resources, and culturally embedded 

expectations of women’s responsibility for caring and reproductive labour 

remain in place. 

These insights can be used to design and implement practical and strategic 

interventions that could simultaneously and synergistically address both 

gender inequality and food insecurity.

52

 Practically, and in the immedi-



ate term, interventions such as social grants and food aid, if targeted at 

the poorest households, will automatically capture a greater proportion of 

female-centred households. More strategically, the aim should be to make 

female-centred households less poor, and thus more food secure. Enhanc-

ing food security for the urban poor requires education and training, job 

creation, and income generation strategies, ensuring equitable access to 



urban food security series no. 10

 

 39



such opportunities for women and girls. Supporting and enabling wom-

en’s engagement in such activities and enterprises – including in food pro-

duction and marketing – has the potential to strengthen food security at 

the same time as reducing gender inequality, in a form of virtuous cycle.

These findings have implications for urban, national and regional policy 

interventions aimed at reducing urban food insecurity. Gender analysis of 

the AFSUN survey findings demonstrates the importance of gender and 

household type in understanding the determinants of food insecurity, and 

can provide the basis for designing and implementing effective strategies 

for food security enhancement. The AFSUN data also provide a baseline 

against which the effects of policy changes and other interventions aimed 

at addressing food insecurity, including their gender impacts, can be mea-

sured and monitored. 

E

NDNOTES



1  

UN-HABITAT, The State of African Cities, 2010: Governance, Inequality and Urban 



Land Markets (Nairobi: UN-HABITAT, 2010).

2  


J. Crush and B. Frayne, The Invisible Crisis: Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa

AFSUN Urban Food Security Series No. 1, Cape Town and Kingston, 2009.

3  

A. Sen, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (Oxford, 



Clarendon, 1981). 

4  


Crush and Frayne, Invisible Crisis.

5  


B. Frayne et al., The State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, AFSUN 

Urban Food Security Series No. 2, Cape Town and Kingston, 2010; B. Frayne, 

J. Battersby-Lennard, R. Fincham and G. Haysom, Urban Food Security in South 

Africa: Case Study of Cape Town, Msunduzi and Johannesburg. Development Planning 

Division Working Paper Series No. 15, DBSA, Midrand, 2009. 

6  

See AFSUN Urban Food Security Series Nos. 3 to 9 at www.afsun.org 



7  

Sen, Poverty and Famines

8  

Frayne et al., State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, p. 7.



9  

L. Patel and T. Hochfeld, “It Buys Food But Does It Change Gender Relations? 

Child Support Grants in Soweto, South Africa” Gender and Development 19(2) 

(2011): 229-40; E. Kimani-Murage, P. Holding, J-C. Fotso, A. Ezeh, N. Madise, 

E. Kahurani and E. Zulu, “Food Security and Nutritional Outcomes among 

Urban Poor Orphans in Nairobi, Kenya” Journal of Urban Health 88(S2) (2011): 

282-97; L. Patel, “Poverty, Gender and Social Protection: Child Support Grants 

in Soweto, South Africa” Journal of Policy Practice 11(1-2) (2012): 106-20.

10   S. Atkinson, “Approaches and Actors in Urban Food Security in Developing 

Countries” Habitat International 19(2) (1995): 151-63.

11   A. Quisumbing, L. Brown, H. Feldstein, L. Haddad and C. Peña, Women: The 

Key to Food Security (Washington, D.C.: International Food Policy Research 


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Institute, 1995); M. Vaughan, The Story of an African Famine (Cambridge; 

Cambridge University Press, 1987); C. Moser, Gender Planning and Development: 

Theory, Practice, and Training (London: Routledge, 1993); N. Kabeer, Reversed 

Realities in Development Thought (London and New York: Verso, 1994); B. Agarwal, 

“‘Bargaining’ and Gender Relations: Within and Beyond the Household” Feminist 



Economics 3(1) (1997): 1-51.

12   E. Kennedy and P. Peters, “Household Food Security and Child Nutrition: The 

Interaction of Income and Gender of Household Head” World Development 20(8) 

(1992): 1077-85.

13   V. Reddy and R. Moletsane, “The Gendered Dimensions of Food Security 

in South Africa: A Review of the Literature” Gender and Development Unit, 

Human Sciences Research Council, Pretoria, 2009.

14   I. Tinker, Street Foods: Urban Food and Employment in Developing Countries (Oxford 

and New York: Oxford University Press, 1997); C. Levin, M. Ruel, S. Morris, D. 

Maxwell, M. Armar-Klemesu and C. Ahiadeke, “Working Women in an Urban 

Setting: Traders, Vendors and Food Security in Accra” World Development 27(11) 

(1999): 1977-91; G. Porter, F. Lyon and D. Potts, “Market Institutions and Urban 

Food Supply in West and Southern Africa: A Review” Progress in Development 

Studies 7(2) (2007): 115-34.

15   D. Drakakis-Smith, T. Bowyer-Bower and D. Tevera, “Urban Poverty and 

Urban Agriculture: An Overview of Linkages in Harare” Habitat International 

19(2) (1995): 183-93; A. Hovorka, “Urban Agriculture: Addressing Practical and 

Strategic Gender Needs” Development in Practice 16(1) (2006): 51-61; L. Mougeot 

(ed.), Agropolis: The Social, Political and Environmental Dimensions of Urban Agriculture 

(Ottawa: IDRC, 2005).

16   J. Bongaarts, “Household Size and Composition in the Developing World in the 

1990s” Population Studies: A Journal of Demography 55(3) (2001): 263-79; D. Posel, 

“Who Are the Heads of Household, What Do They Do, and Is the Concept of 

Headship Useful? An Analysis of Headship in South Africa” Development Southern 

Africa 18(5) (2001): 651-70; S. Mathis, “Disobedient Daughters? Changing 

Women’s Roles in Rural Households in KwaZulu-Natal” Journal of Southern 



African Studies 37(4) (2011): 831-48. 

17   S. Chant, “Re-thinking the ‘Feminisation of Poverty’ in Relation to Aggregate 

Gender Indices” Journal of Human Development 7(2) (2006): 201-20.

18   S. Lemke, “Empowered Women and the Need to Empower Men: Gender 

Relations and Food Security in Black South African Households” Studies of Tribes 

and Tribals 1(1) (2003): 59-67; B. Dodson with H. Simelane, D. Tevera, T. Green, 

A. Chikanda and F. de Vletter, Gender, Migration and Remittances in Southern Africa

SAMP Migration Policy Series No. 49, Cape Town and Kingston, 2008; E. 

Dungumaro, “Gender Differentials in Household Structure and Socioeconomic 

Characteristics in South Africa” Journal of Comparative Family Studies 39(4) (2008): 

429–51; A. Goebel, B. Dodson and T. Hill, “Urban Advantage or Urban Penalty? 

A Case Study of Female-Headed Households in a South African City” Health and 

Place 16(3) (2010): 573-80.

19   Levin et al., “Working Women in an Urban Setting.”

20   Frayne et al., State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa

21   Quisimbing et al., Women: The Key to Food Security; Agarwal, “‘Bargaining’ and 

Gender Relations”; L. Haddad, J. Hoddinott and H. Alderman, eds., Intrahousehold 


urban food security series no. 10

 

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Resource Allocation in Developing Countries: Methods, Models, and Policy (Baltimore: 

Johns Hopkins University Press and IFPRI, 1997). 

22   Frayne et al., State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa.

23   Ibid. 

24   This means that inter-city comparisons, while illustrative, are not of strictly 

statistically equivalent representative sample populations. 

25   The normal binary household typology of female- or male-headed was replaced 

in the AFSUN survey with a four-fold typology: female-centred households are 

those with no husband/male partner in the household but can include relatives, 

children, and friends; male-centred households have no wife/female partner in 

the household but can include relatives, children, and friends; nuclear households 

have a husband/male partner and a wife/female partner with or without children; 

and extended families have a husband/male partner and a wife/female partner and 

children and relatives.

26   Zimbabwe was in a state of acute political and economic crisis at the time of 

the survey, marked by hyperinflation and food shortages; see G.Tawodzera, L. 

Zanamwe and J. Crush, The State of Food Insecurity in Harare, Zimbabwe, AFSUN 

Urban Food Security Series No. 13, Cape Town and Kingston, 2012.

27   Frayne et al., The State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, p. 25.

28   J. Coates, A. Swindale and P. Bilinsky, “Household Food Insecurity Access Scale 

(HFIAS) for Measurement of Food Access: Indicator Guide (Version 3)” Food and 

Nutrition Technical Assistance Project, Academy for Educational Development, 

Washington, D.C., 2007, p.18.

29   Ibid., pp. 21-2.

30   A. Swindale and P. Bilinsky, “Household Dietary Diversity Score (HDDS) for 

Measurement of Household Food Access: Indicator Guide (Version 2)” Food and 

Nutrition Technical Assistance Project, Academy for Educational Development, 

Washington, D.C., 2006.

31   P. Bilinsky and A. Swindale, “Months of Adequate Household Food Provisioning 

(MAHFP) for Measurement of Household Food Access: Indicator Guide” 

Food and Nutrition Technical Assistance Project, Academy for Educational 

Development, Washington, D.C., 2007.

32   This is probably because the sample was drawn from an area of the city in 

which urban agriculture is extensively practised, unlike most of Blantyre’s poor 

residential neighbourhoods. 

33   Frayne et al, State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, p. 34. 

34   Ibid, p. 49. 

35   O. Kuku, C. Gunderson and S. Garasky, “Differences in Food Insecurity between 

Adults and Children in Zimbabwe” Food Policy 36(2011): 311-17.

36   Frayne et al., State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa.

37   M. Ruel, C. Levin, M. Armar-Klemesu and D. Maxwell, “Good Care Practices 

Can Mitigate the Negative Effects of Poverty and Low Maternal Schooling on 

Children’s Nutritional Status: Evidence from Accra” World Development 27 (1999): 

1993-2009. 

38   Afrobarometer, “Lived Poverty in Africa: Desperation, Hope and Patience” 

Briefing Paper No. 11, Cape Town, 2004. 



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39   Patel, “Poverty, Gender and Social Protection.”

40   J. Crush and B. Frayne, “Supermarket Expansion and the Informal Food 

Economy in Southern African Cities: Implications for Urban Food Security” 



Journal of Southern African Studies 37(4) (2011): 781-807. 

41   Frayne et al., State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa, p. 25.

42   Ibid. 

43   Ibid. 

44   HFIAP categories “food secure” and “mildly food insecure” are grouped together 

as food secure households. “Moderately” and “severely” food insecure categories 

are grouped into a single “food insecure” category.

45   Ibid., p. 34. LPI scores of <1 indicate never/seldom without. Scores >1 indicate 

increasingly greater degrees of deprivation.

46   Ibid., p. 37. 

47   Kennedy and Peters, “Household Food Security and Child Nutrition.”

48   Frayne et al., State of Urban Food Insecurity in Southern Africa.

49   Ruel et al., “Good Care Practices.” 

50   A. Hovorka, “Entrepreneurial Opportunities in Botswana: (Re)shaping Urban 

Agriculture Discourse” Journal of Contemporary African Studies 22(3) (2004): 367-

88. J. Crush, A. Hovorka and D. Tevera, Urban Food Production and Household Food 



Security in Southern African Cities, AFSUN Urban Food Security Series No. 4, 

Cape Town and Kingston, 2010.

51   B. Herz and G. Sperling, “What Works in Girls’ Education: Evidence and Policies 

from the Developing World” (Washington, D.C.: Council on Foreign Relations, 

2004).

52   Moser, Gender Planning and Development



 

AFRICAN  FOOD  SECURITY  URBAN  NETWORK  (AFSUN) 

AFRICAN  FOOD  SECURITY  URBAN  NETWORK  (AFSUN)  

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www.afsun.org

This gender analysis of the findings of AFSUN’s baseline survey of poor urban 

households in eleven cities in Southern Africa in 2008 and 2009 has implications 

for urban, national and regional policy interventions aimed at reducing urban food 

insecurity. By comparing female-centred and other households, light is shed both 

on  the  determinants  of  urban  food  insecurity  –  which  relate  fundamentally  to 

income, employment and education – and on the manifest gender inequalities in 

access to the largely income-based entitlements to food in the city. These insights 

can be used to design and implement practical and strategic interventions that 

could simultaneously and synergistically address both gender inequality and food 

insecurity. Practically, and in the immediate term, interventions such as social 

grants  and  food  aid,  if  targeted  at  the  poorest  households,  will  automatically 

capture  a  greater  proportion  of  female-centred  households.  Enhancing  food 

security  for  the  urban  poor  requires  education  and  training,  job  creation,  and 

income generation strategies, ensuring equitable access to such opportunities 

for  women  and  girls.  Supporting  and  enabling  women’s  engagement  in  such 

activities  and  enterprises  –  including  in  food  production  and  marketing  –  has 

the potential to strengthen food security at the same time as reducing gender 



inequality, in a form of virtuous cycle.

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